I Can See the Light
by squishy-asshat
Summary: AU: One shot inspired by the song from Tangled. Derek and Penelope as a modern day Rapunzel and Flynn. kind of. FLUFF.


**The other day at work I was listening to "I can see the light" from the Tangled soundtrack (I work with kids) and of course our favorite crime fighters popped into my head. So here is a little fluffy AU one shot with a disney esque spin. Hope you all like it!**

 **I own nothing my friends.  
**

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Derek's phone only rang twice before he answered it.

"Hey! How's it going?" he said happily as balanced the phone between his shoulder and ear so he continue making his lunch. He never turned down an opportunity to talk to his best friend.

"I can't go." She said in a tone that was much more flat than her normal chirpy self.

"What?! You're kidding right?" he was really hoping that she was just joking.

Two and a half hours from their hometown there was a festival of lights on Flynn beach. There were lights strung along the beach, little glowing bags with tea lights and hundreds of sky lanterns were released. It happened every year and Penelope had always wanted to go. This year she finally convinced him to go with her. Tonight they planned to take a small road trip and check it out.

"I really wish I was." she said with a sigh. Nope, she was definitely serious.

"What happened?"

"Helen happened." Penelope got along with just about everyone, except her step mother. She tried, she really did but for some reason Helen just didn't like Penelope.

"Oh boy." He knew it must have been pretty bad. Ever since Helen stepped into the picture she had it out for Penelope.

"As soon as my dad left for work this morning she started her wicked witch routine and was on me about everything. Why didn't I do the dishes? I wasn't supposed to do the dishes. Why was out so late last night? Eleven o'clock is not late by any means. Why was my room a mess? WHY WAS SHE IN MY ROOM?! HUH?"

"Whoa, girl. Slow down. Take a deep breath." Derek had known Penelope for over ten years and she didn't often this heated about anything. He heard her slowly inhale and then exhale on the other end.

"Thanks. I'm just so pissed. Long story short she grounded me and my dad was apparently too _tired_ or whatever to deal with it so I'm stuck here." she finished with what Derek could only decipher as a small growl.

"I'm really sorry that happened, baby girl. We'll plan to go next year! I wish there was something I could do." he felt terrible for her.

"Maybe, but we'll both be at college by then so who knows. Thanks I'll talk to you later, D. I'm gonna go erase that asshat's hard drive." With that Penelope hung up. Derek really did feel bad. He knew how excited she was to finally go. Her dad was gonna take her once when she was younger but the car broke down and they never made it. He wasn't sure why they didn't try to go back. She had asked him a few times over the years and it just hadn't worked out. Now that they were both seniors and he had a car it seemed like the perfect time to go. He took his sandwich up to his room to think of a way to fix this situation. Neither of them had decided on a college yet and she was completely right, they could be thousands of miles apart by this time next year, there was no guarantee they could go. The thought of being that far away from Penelope made him feel slightly ill, but he pushed that to the side to focus on the present issue, getting her to that light festival.

Penelope opted to eat dinner in her room alone and as far away from her step mother as possible. Messing with her computer had helped a little bit but she was still pissed. She was eighteen, almost nineteen. Just because she was the baby of the family didn't mean she was one. She tried to think of a way to get out without Helen knowing. She was, for the most part, a goodie two shoes. Sure, she had snuck out with Derek once or twice but that was just around town after Helen was asleep and she knew she wouldn't get caught. This time however was about two and a half hours out of town, there was no way she could get away with it.

A minute later something hit her window. She ignored it but when it happened again she went and looked out. Derek was standing under her window with a big smile on his face.

"Not that I don't love seeing your gorgeous face but what are you doing here?" she asked as she opened the window and leaned out.

"I was thinking about what you said earlier, about how we may not be here to go next year, and decided we had to go."

"I can't. The evil queen locked me in the tower." She was still completely bummed but just him being there made her feel better.

"Well, I've come to bust out my princess." He said with the most charming smile she had ever seen.

She smiled despite herself. "What if she finds out? I'll be in deep doodoo."

"She won't, I got my mom to ask her out for a girls night. So they'll be gone till at least midnight and then when she gets home she'll be so wasted she's just gonna go to bed." He saw her hesitate and bite her bottom lip. She did that sometimes when she was thinking. "Come on, Pen. Please? If we leave now we can make it. You've been going on about these lights for so long that I wanna see them now too."

"Give me two minutes." She said breaking into a smile as she retreated back into her room. "OH" she said as she peaked back out. "Grab the ladder from the shed."

About ten minutes later Penelope opened up her window and climbed out onto the roof that extended around the back of the house. From there she hopped down to the back porch roof and then used the ladder Derek had taken out to get to the ground. After she got to the grass she dusted off her dress and high fived her best friend.

"Two minutes?" he teased her.

"I picked another fight with my favorite step mom and then stormed off to my room to ensure that A. no one would come looking for me and B. she would drink way too much cause I ' _stressed her out'_. Let's go."

"I forget how smart you are sometimes."

"Please." She rolled her eyes. "So where's our chariot prince charming?"

"I parked it around the corner so no one would see me coming." He told her pointing in the direction of his car.

"I forget how smart you are sometimes."

The pair got in the car and didn't look back. They quickly stopped for snacks and then hit the road. Derek was right, they did need to go. She had been waiting years and wasn't going to let her jerk of a step mom ruin the fun night they had planned. Especially seeing as they may not be around to see it next year. Derek and Penelope had both gotten several amazing offers from several amazing schools. Derek couldn't decide if he wanted to go to Chicago where his dad's family was located, NYC were he had gotten two great offers or stay local. Penelope had always wanted to go to Cal Tech and had not only gotten accepted but had gotten a full scholarship. There was something that wasn't sitting right with her about it though, she was considering not going. Neither of them had decided and because they were both so busy this might have to be their last big outing for a while, she decided not to feel bad about it.

When they got there they saw the lights almost immediately. It had been dark for a while and the beach was completely illuminated. They parked and Penelope practically sprinted out onto the beach. When Derek caught up to her he saw her just standing in the sand looking around in awe. It was even more beautiful than the pictures she had shown him online. There were stings of light everywhere, there was a walkway illuminated with tea lights in little white bags, there were even two big bonfires. However she was more beautiful than all of it. It's not that he hadn't noticed before, because he had, many times. Maybe it was the way the lights hit her or the pure look of happiness of her face but he was sure he had never seen her look more beautiful.

He walked up to where she was standing and put his arm around her shoulders. "Looks like they're lighting those floating thingies, let's go check it out." He said softly. She nodded and they walked down the beach were hundreds of other people were lighting their lanterns. They grabbed one and waited until everyone threw them up.

"Here's to," she paused and looked up at him "ten years of being friends."

"And finally making it here." He smiled sweetly. She knew what he meant but it seemed like he meant something else as well. She was almost an expert at reading him and there was definitely something else under that "here".  
Before she had time to question him they saw the first few lanterns fly up into the night sky. Soon there were hundreds of lights floating above them. The two best friends released theirs without another words and just stood and watched for a few minutes. Penelope laced her hand with Derek's and they walked down the beach a bit, and found a spot to sit.

After a few more minutes of comfortable silence and watching the lights Penelope looked at Derek.

"Thanks again for break me out tonight." She said as she scooted a little closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Anytime." He said as he kissed the top of her head. They both fell quiet again. He didn't know why but he felt like today had cleared his head. It was like a fog had lifted. He felt like he was looking at things clearly for the first time. He knew he loved Penelope, they had been best friends for over ten years, but he realized he was in love with her as well. For a second it scared him, but then that disappeared. This was Penelope and she was wonderful. If she didn't reciprocate then he would be okay, they would be okay because he wasn't going to lose the best friend he had ever had. Would it hurt? Hell yes, but it would be okay. He felt like he was gonna burst, he needed to tell her.

"Hey, Pen?" he said quietly. She made a noise of acknowledgement. "Can I tell you something?"

"Anything." She said sitting up and looking at him expectantly. She notice him hesitate for a second, was he gonna tell her he had decided on Chicago? His voice halted her thoughts.

"I don't really know how to say this cause I don't wanna freak you out but-"

"You picked Chicago didn't you? I figured you were leaning that way. I'm happy for you! I'll miss you, a lot, but we'll stay in touch. Right?" she blurted out. He looked confused. She now looked confused too.

"No, I mean yeah we would stay in touch but that's not was I was gonna say."

"Oh, sorry. Go ahead." She said sheepishly.

"Thanks. I, um, I love you." He really had not meant to just blurt it out. He thought he could be more romantic than that.

She smiled fondly. "I love you too, sweet cheeks!"

"Penelope." He said trying to look at least a little serious.

"Derek?" she asked, he never used her full name.

"I love you, but not like that. Well, I do. You're my best friend of course I love you but I'm also in love." She looked very confused. "With you. I'm in love with you." He finished making sure he was clear.

"Oh." She said as she looked away towards the water and bit her bottom lip.

 _uh oh._ He thought _that can't be good._

She looked back at him and looked into his eyes, like she was looking for something. Then she smiled and he could see tears appear in her eyes.

"Baby, don't cry. It's okay if you don't feel the same-"

"You beautiful hunk of man candy." She said as she gently grabbed his face in her hands. "Of course I feel the same way."

"You do?" he asked as his face lit up.

She chuckled as she wiped away a tear that had escaped. "Yes! How could I not?"

"Want me to make you a list?" he said half joking, half serious.

"No, I don't. That would be silly and the list of reasons why I am would be much much longer. I'm fairly certain you, Derek Morgan, are my prince charming."

He never blushed and when he did it was barely noticeable but he could feel his cheeks heat up a bit as a smile crept across his face. He was thankful that it wasn't too bright on the beach. He was about to respond when she leaned in and kissed him softly and then pulled back a little with a smile.

"I've wanted to do that for forever." She whispered.

"You're not the only one."

"Does this mean I get to do that all the time?" she asked a little louder, getting excited.

"Um, hell yeah baby." He said just before he leaned in and kissed her again, a little less delicately than she just had but still publically appropriate.

"I'm liking this already." She said when they broke apart. He took her hand in his as they both smiled and looked out over the ocean with the floating lanterns becoming smaller in the distance.

"I hate to bring down the mood but, what are we gonna do about school?"

"Well, we can either do long distance, we can go to the same school or we can go to different schools close enough where we can see each other over the weekends." He said, clearly he had thought about this.

"I don't want you not going where you want to because of me. You would regret it someday."

"and I don't want you to not go where you want because of me. So, we'll look over all our options together and apart and then decide. Whether we're down the street or across the country we'll make it work."

She nodded "Okay." She said as she rested her head on his shoulder again and he wrapped his arm around her.

Penelope and Derek ended up going to a school about two hours away from their hometown, right near Flynn beach. After their first year of college they moved into an apartment together. They went back to the same beach every year during the festival. First to celebrate their first, second, and third anniversaries, then to Penelope's surprise to get engaged. Through the years the always made a point to go back every year on the same weekend. They brought their kids and then their grandkids.

And they both lived happily ever after.


End file.
